By David Crystal

New from Cambridge University Press!

By Peter Mark Roget

This book "supplies a vocabulary of English words and idiomatic phrases 'arranged … according to the ideas which they express'. The thesaurus, continually expanded and updated, has always remained in print, but this reissued first edition shows the impressive breadth of Roget's own knowledge and interests."

''Grammars in Contact: A Cross-Linguistic Typology'' offers a data-rich discussionof possible sources for phonological, morphological, grammatical, and pragmaticchanges in a geographically diverse range of languages and linguistic areas: Australia, Western Nilotic, Volta Basin, Basque, East Timor, PennsylvaniaGerman, The Balkans, Cantonese, Vaupes, Peruvian Amazon, Mawayana. This editedcollection of papers is an important reference for scholars working in languagecontact and desirous of data detailing linguistic diffusion in somegeographically remote areas.

1. ''Grammars in Contact A Cross-Linguistic Perspective.'' Alexandra Aikhenvaldsets the stage for the subsequent articles in the volume by laying out whatprinciples underlie the borrowing of linguistic forms in languages. She statesthat only through fieldwork can appropriate generalizations be drawn regardingpreferences for borrowing. These preferences include category functions, usage,cultural stereotypes, and structural similarities between languages. Despitelayers of borrowing achieved by years of contact, a language's roots generallyremain indelible and family affiliations are recognizable. However, somelanguages show significantly more borrowing and in some instances, multiplelayers of contact-induced change blur genetic affiliations. Hence, only by''careful examination of all relevant facts'' (p. 10) can conclusions regardingcontact-induced change be achieved. These conclusions will presumably be freefrom the four other influencing factors: independent innovations, paralleldevelopment, accidental similarities, and typologically natural tendencies.

This introductory chapter, being the longest one in the book, is divided intofour parts. Part one discusses the question, ''Why can languages be similar?'' Parts two (''The effects of language contact'') and three (''Mechanisms ofcontact-induced change'') are subdivided into related issues that highlightAikhenvald's in-depth knowledge of languages. In her discussion, she drawsspecific examples from the data of subsequent chapters as well as from otherwell-known and lesser known languages to substantiate her claims. In part four(''Making diffusion possible''), she claims that diffusion is more likely incontact situations when the borrowed item is cognitively motivated, e.g.,pragmatically-based constructions such as focus and topic markers will diffusemore readily than categories such as deictics, case markers, and tenses. Factors that facilitate this diffusion are matching genres or pragmatic patternsthat allow for the calquing of greetings and discourse markers that are usefulin story telling and the marking of arguments for participant tracking. Anotherfacilitating factor is the similarity of phonological words between contactlanguages such that morphemes can match up easily for borrowing purposes. Usagefrequencies in the borrowed form as well as its obligatoriness are otherfacilitating factors. This is particularly so when the borrowed formcorresponds to a social stigma such as lying as in the case of a system ofevidentials. When contact languages have a mutual activity like commerce, thisfacilitates the borrowing of language correlates such as counting systems. Additional factors favoring borrowing or diffusion are described: perceived gapsin a language; the conformity of cognitive perceptions to correspondinggrammatical categories such as future expressions (''plan'' and ''count'') inPennsylvania German; a minimally complex form; structural similarities betweenlanguages; innovative tendencies in the language that match those required forborrowed forms; existing analogous forms; the presence of perceived similar forms.

Aikhenvald then lists three other factors facilitating the borrowing ofparticular forms: 1) morphosyntactic transparency and clarity of morphemeboundaries; 2) prosodic saliency and syllabicity; 3) unifunctionality andsemantic transparency as opposed to portmanteau forms. The presence of severalfacilitating factors leads to a greater likelihood of diffusion and therefore, aprinciple of Mutual Reinforcement. Aikhenvald is quick to point out that thesefactors do not function in any hierarchical fashion, but simply serve toreinforce each other in a complex way. Finally, some linguistic tendencies alsocome into play, e.g., analytic and agglutinating languages borrow more easily incontrast to fusional ones while free versus bound morphemes are more easilyborrowed.

In conclusion, Aikhenvald summarizes the necessary sociolinguistic parametersand attitudes that lead to language contact and diffusion. The sociolinguisticparameters include multilingualism, prestige, diglossia, mutual intelligibility,interaction or contact time, and openness of the community to outsideinfluences. Attitudes may inhibit borrowing through the purging of a languageof unwanted loans although borrowed patterns are prevalent, but lessdiscernable. Aversion toward stereotyped features that characterize a languageinhibits borrowing. Language planners also change borrowing patterns.

Some final points touched on are balanced versus displacive language contact andlanguage convergence.

In light of Aikhenvald's extensive discussion on borrowing in chapter one, Isummarize below the relevant points she includes from each article.

2. ''Grammatical Diffusion in Australia: Free and Bound Pronouns.'' R.M.W.Dixon describes how the spread of bound pronouns and developing clitics acrossAustralian languages is a phenomenon resulting from years of contact that haveled to linguistic relations based on accommodation rather than prohibition.

3. ''How Long do Linguistic Areas Last?: Western Nilotic Grammars in Contact.'' Anne Storch points out that there is an Ubangi imprint on the Western Niloticlanguage of Belanda Bor as well as an Eastern Nilotic imprint on the Western oneof Labwor. This imprint is organized chronologically such that Belanda Bor bearsprefixes and marks singular-plural pairs that indicate contact with an Ubangianlanguage, Bviri, whose similar prefixes suggest earlier contact. In some cases,language contact is not sufficient for permanent changes as in the case of Luwoand Dinka.

4. ''Grammars in Contact in the Volta Basin (West Africa): On Contact-InducedGrammatical Change in Likpe.'' Felix Ameka continues the theme of this volume byshowing the influence of Ewe on Likpe for the past 300-400 years in suchexamples as discourse particles, story telling, and the development of a pluralsuffix on kinship nouns. He also describes an interesting example ofaccommodation when Likpe shifted its verb ''lè'' (hold) into a present progressiveconstruction because the verb phonetically resembled one in a neighboring Ewedialect that was used in its present progressive.

5. ''Basque in Contact with Romance Languages.'' Gerd Jendraschek looks at bothinternally and externally induced changes in Basque. These changes (e.g.,argument structure and verb marking) are traceable only to the extent thatsynchronic data permit reconstruction. Some borrowings in Basque from contactwith Romance include postposed relative clauses, pronominal plurals, and loss ofdifferentiation between direct and indirect objects.

6. ''Language Contact and Convergence in East Timor: The Case of Tetun Dili.'' John Hajek shows how Tetun Dili has evidence of multi-layering from contact withPortuguese, Malay, and later from Indonesian. It has developed verb-initialclauses and hypotaxis from Portuguese influence. It now has a new word classthat came about by borrowing numerous adjectives. Previously, adjectives andverbs were relatively indistinguishable in Tetun Dili.

7. ''Language Contact and Convergence in Pennsylvania German.'' Kate Burridge, ina similar vein as Jendraschek's findings in Basque, describes the considerableexternal factors influencing change in Pennsylvania German in addition tointernal ones. The predominant role that English plays with respect to internalsimilarities and external pressure cannot be underestimated. Numerous discourseparticles now appear in Pennsylvania German.

8. ''Balkanizing the Balkan Sprachbund: A Closer Look at GrammaticalPermeability and Feature Distribution.'' Victor Friedman describes how Romanihas numerous layers from contact with the Romance family and neighboringlanguages such as Greek despite its Indic origins. He also lists the linguistictraits of the Balkans that identify it as a sprachbund with South Slavicmanifesting those traits highly central to the sprachbund. These traits alsosuggest micro-areas within the larger linguistic area; hence, compounding thedifficulty of sorting out the complexity of multi-layered effects.

9. ''Cantonese Grammar in Areal Perspective.'' Stephen Matthews describes howdifferent registers of Cantonese have been subject to greater degrees ofborrowing with less variation found in the higher registers. Lower registersshow evidence (changes in tone and pitch accent and a system of classifiers inpossessive constructions) of old diffusion from Tai and Miao-Yao. Diffusion inSouth-East Asia makes tracing sources of diffusion complicated.

10. ''Semantics and Pragmatics of Grammatical Relations in the Vaupes LinguisticArea.'' Alexandra Aikhenvald. Tariana is an Arawak language that bears adiscernable layer borrowed from Tucanoan. Through contact, it has developed aninvariable locative form and a system of evidentials. It has also shed headmarking for dependent marking as a result of East Tucanoan influence. It alsomarks topical objects and focused subjects.

11. ''The Vaupes Melting Pot: Tucanoan Influence on Hup.'' Patience Eppsdescribes how Hup, though belonging to a family different from Tariana,manifests a variety of Tucanoan influences. These influences are seen in thephonology of word-initial positions, pitch accent and tone as well asgrammatical aspects such as a new system of classifiers, evidentials, verbcompounding to express aspectual features, and verb final word order. Numbersystems have been restructured, too. It has also developed a special marker fordefinite non-subjects. She also shows how Hup manifests the features that setit at the center of a diffusion area.

12. ''The Quechua Impact in Amuesha, an Arawak Language of the Peruvian Amazon.''Willem Adelaar continues the theme of this collection with a description ofdistinct layers of Quechuan influence on Amuesha. Although a member of theArawak family, Amuesha has borrowed features (new phonemes and negation) clearlytraceable to Quechua. These borrowings are considered vestigial since contactwas in the past. At the same time, there are features that cannot be accountedfor by either Arawak or Quechua, and remain an enigma since the layering hasobscured traceable sources.

13. ''Feeling the Need: The Borrowing of Cariban Functional Categories intoMawayana (Arawak).'' Eithne Carlin completes this volume describing the borrowingof Carib nominal past into Mawayana while also noting the loss of gender inMawayana because of surrounding genderless languages. Notwithstanding thisloss, it has borrowed a first person exclusive pronoun from a contact language.

EVALUATION

Aikhenvald's numerous publications, study, and research are evident in thisedited collection. Her claims pull from an extensive knowledge ofcross-linguistic language data. She is meticulous in defining all terms so thatthe book is accessible to both new and well-seasoned scholars. The firstchapter highlights the complexity of language contact through the carefullisting of the possible factors (grammatical as well as the social andlinguistic contexts) that facilitate and, in some cases, deter diffusion incontact situations. Each factor is supported with numerous examples. Because ofAikhenvald's thorough discussion of language contact phenomena in the firstfifty-three pages of the volume and abundant citing of the findings in thesubsequent articles, the likelihood of any scholar reading all twelve articlesthat follow may be diminished. As with any edited volume, researchers willsearch out those articles relevant to their area of interest. The editors haveincluded a glossary, an author index, an index of languages, language familiesand linguistic areas, and a subject index. These indices would make this book apossible recommended reading for a graduate course in language contact ortypology. Its descriptive approach with an underlying functional explanation oflanguage contact principles makes it a readable collection of well-editedarticles on language contact. It is interesting, however, that Aikhenvald makesno reference to Joan Bybee's work since Bybee's scholarship on usage-basedgrammar (2005) has relevance to Aikhenvald's claims regarding the influentialfactors of saliency, cognition, and usage on borrowing principles.